(EnergyAsia, February 10 2011, Thursday) — Dubai’s Emirates National Oil Co (ENOC) is looking to expand its oil products storage capacity in Fujairah to 2.1 million cubic metres from 1.5 million cubic metres. Expected to be in placed by the end of 2011, the additional tanks will be used to support the company’s trading and...
(EnergyAsia, February 10 2011, Thursday) — Shareholders of UK’s BG Group received a rosy update of the company’s prospects in the decade ahead as well as a boost in its near-term outlook. At its annual strategy update and full year 2010 results yesterday, the gas giant affirmed its forecast for oil and gas production to...
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2011, Wednesday) — Amid growing concerns about a supply shortage, Singapore may soon lift a ban on additional piped natural gas (PNG) imports from Indonesia and Malaysia. While intended to be temporary, the measure underlines concerns that Singapore may face supply or cost challenges in obtaining feedstock to meet its rising demand...
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2011, Wednesday) — US-based GE and China’s state-owned mining and energy company Shenhua Group Corp Ltd said they have agreed to jointly set up an industrial coal gasification company to deploy cleaner coal technology solutions in China. Due to start up later this year, the JV will combine GE’s expertise in industrial...
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2011, Wednesday) — US energy major Chevron Corporation said its Australian subsidiary has signed a 20-year sales and purchase agreement with Japan’s Kyushu Electric Power Co for a portion of Chevron’s offtake of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Gorgon project in Western Australia state. The Fukuoka, Kyushu-based power supplier will receive...
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2011, Wednesday) — Australian Securities Exchange-listed Hunnu Coal Ltd said it has acquired an additional 15% stake in the Unst Khudag thermal coal mine and surrounding licences in Mongolia, raising its total interest to 80% Located in Dundgobi province, 290 km from Ulaanbatar, the 324-metric-tonne (MT) thermal coal project consists of two...
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2011, Wednesday) — Indonesia’s coal output is expected to rise to 340 million tons this year as its miners attempt to meet rising domestic and international demand. This will represent a sharp increase from last year’s production of 275 million tonnes and 254 million tonnes in 2009. The Indonesian Coal Mining Association...
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2011, Wednesday) — Singapore is looking to increase the use of renewable feedstock like palm oil, sugarcane, plant material and agricultural waste to produce chemicals, industrial polymers and plastics. The move is part of the island state’s ambition to position itself as a hub for developing and using biomass-to-chemicals conversion technologies. The...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2011, Tuesday) — Australia’s Queensland state said it has suffered damages worth more than A$5 billion from the recent two months of the country’s worst flooding in over a century. (US$1=A$0.99). The disaster will force Queensland to revise its budget and tone down its economic forecast, with Premier Anna Bligh announcing the...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2011, Tuesday) — Global warming made 2010 among the three hottest years on record, according to latest data provided by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). It said 2010’s temperatures were slightly behind only 1998’s and above 2005’s. In the latest confirmation of the planet’s global warming trend, the WMO confirmed the first...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2011, Tuesday) — China’s coal appetite shows no sign of letting up with last year’s imports surging 31% while its exports fell 15%, said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). China’s coal imports totalled 164.83 million tons to completely dwarf exports at just over 19 million tons. Indonesia, Australia, Vietnam, Mongolia...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2011, Tuesday) — Global thermal coal prices are likely to continue rising on an unexpected tightening of supply following the flooding in Australia as well as the continued bad weather in other producing countries like Columbia and Indonesia, according to Standard Chartered Global Research. The bank has raised its price forecasts for...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2011, Tuesday) — US-based Peabody Energy, the world’s largest privately owned coal company, and Yankuang Group Co Ltd, a leading Chinese state-owned coal mining company, said they are jointly developing the Wucaiwan Energy Center in the Zhundong region of Xinjiang in northwestern China. The centre would include a 20-million-ton-per-year surface coal mine,...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2011, Tuesday) — Australia’s Gladstone Ports Corp in Queensland state said its coal stockpile has risen above one million tonnes as it prepares to boost its operating rate beyond 55% following two months of devastating rain and floods. The country’s biggest coal-producing state has suffered severe damages to its mines and infrastructure,...
(EnergyAsia, February 7 2011, Monday) — Buoyed by the strong performance of its offshore and marine segment, Singapore’s Keppel Corp reported 12% rise in net profit to a record of around S$1.419 billion last year. (US$1=S$1.28). For the fourth consecutive year, its return on equity stayed above 20%. The company said its board has recommended...
(EnergyAsia, February 7 2011, Monday) — Mongolia’s economy could grow by 10% this year, but it faces overheating with inflation threatening to top 20%, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). An IMF team led by Steven Barnett visited the resource-rich country on January 20 to February 1, 2011, and met with representatives of government, businesses...
(EnergyAsia, February 7 2011, Monday) — ExxonMobil expects world natural-gas demand to grow by two percent a year through 2030, up from 1.8% in its previous forecast issued last year. By then, natural gas will have overtaken coal to supply 26% of the world’s energy needs, with oil still the leader at 32%. Gas consumption...
(EnergyAsia, February 7 2011, Monday) — Canada’s SouthGobi Resources Ltd said it has completed its first “direct delivery” sale of coal from its Ovoot Tolgoi mine in southern Mongolia to China’s Risun Mining Co Ltd as part of a 500,000-tonne sales contract for this year. SouthGobi said it transported the coal to a customs-bonded yard...
(EnergyAsia, February 7 2011, Monday) — Puda Coal Inc, a Chinese supplier of high grade metallurgical coking coal used for steel manufacturing, said it expects to produce 849,000 tonnes of raw coal in FY2011 while continuing its ambitious programme to consolidate several mines in Shanxi province. Through its 90%-owned subsidiary, Shanxi Puda Coal Group Co...
(EnergyAsia, February 7 2011, Monday) — US engineering giant KBR said its technology business unit has been awarded a contract by Tianji Coal Chemical Industry Group Co Ltd for licensing and basic engineering services for a 164,250-tonne-per-calendar-year aniline plant to be located in Lucheng city in China’s Shanxi province. This award follows the successful licensing...
(EnergyAsia, February 2 2011, Wednesday) — Australian hard coking coal prices could triple to US$500 per tonne on the impact of the devastating floods in Queensland state which could affect more than half its coal mines, said a leading energy and mining consultant. In a special report, Wood Mackenzie, the Edinburgh, Scotland-based global mining and...
(EnergyAsia, February 2 2011, Wednesday) — Renewable Energy Asia Group (REA), a Singapore-listed renewable energy company, said it and China Datang Corp Renewable Power Co Ltd will jointly develop a 49.5-megawatt (MW) wind farm in Haimen City in China’s Jiangsu province. REA said it will have a 49% stake in the RMB500 million project to...
(EnergyAsia, February 2 2011, Wednesday) — Singapore-listed Ezra Holdings Ltd has launched its own academy to provide safety and operational training for the offshore and marine industry. Located within the 18-hectare Ubi Techpark, the S$10-million EMAS Academy facility uses simulation technology in training to help meet the growing demand for skilled maritime professionals and vessel...
(EnergyAsia, February 2 2011, Wednesday) — Japan’s trading house Sojitz Corp recently raised its stake in the Minerva coal mine in Australia’s Queensland state to 96% from 45%. The increase came about after it bought Felix Resources’ 51% interest in Minerva, which produces 2.8 million tonnes of premium thermal coal per year mostly for export...
(EnergyAsia, February 2 2011, Wednesday) — India’s Lanco Infratech said its Australian subsidiary, Lanco Resources Australia, beat off competition from Chinese and Japanese firms to acquire the Griffin Coal Mining Co and Carpenter Mine Management for around A$850 million. (US$1=A$1.01). Griffin Coal is developing its infrastructure to raise its annual production capacity to over...